BFMTV and other French media have reported that at least one person has been killed in the police assault. His identity is not yet known. The inhabitants of St-Denis have been ordered to remain inside their homes, behind locked doors, and to stay away from the windows. The police operation in St-Denis is ongoing, but here is what we currently know:. Army now deployed St Denis Paris pic. French officials have previously said Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud , 27, was instrumental in organising and executing the gun and suicide bomb attacks on Friday night that wrought devastation in central Paris.
Abu Oud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, was first named by police as a wanted extremist after a gun battle in eastern Belgium in January during a raid on an Isis cell. He was known to security forces after appearing in an Isis video, at the wheel of a car transporting mutilated bodies to a mass grave.
Abu Oud was also linked by French officials to the thwarted attacks on a Paris-bound high-speed train in August and a foiled plot to attack a church in Paris in April. Abu Oud regularly attempted to recruit other western fighters to join Isis militants in Syria — even recruiting his year-old brother, Younes, according to French media. A local politician said neighbours who heard shots ring out thought there was another terrorist attack underway.
The metro is closed and buses in the area are shut down. Locals are being advised not to leave their homes. The raid is taking place in the centre of St-Denis near key shopping streets and residential streets.
Neighbours who had opened their windows have been ordered to close them. BFMTV reported that a passerby might have been injured. I was woken at am by explosions. They went on for around 20 minutes and then there was automatic gunfire and shots. From our window we saw lights [flashing] as if grenades had been lit and thrown.
